Date: Thu, 14 Aug 1997 07:13:10 -0400
From: Riki Anne Wilchins
Subject: InYourFace News - August RoundUp
Publisher's Note: Due to a recent server crash, this edition of IYF is going
out about 10 days late. Also, some subscribers may receive multiple copies,
while others who recently de-listed may get this one anyway.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
===================================
MEDIA ADVISORY - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Clare Howell, clareq@gpac.org
(718) 638-7062
. MEN CONVICTED IN GAY/TRANS-MURDER
. MEMBER OF NYC SM COMMUNITY FOUND MURDERED
. CONGRESSMAN CALLS TRANS-EMPLOYEE IMMORAL
. TRANS-PROTECTION UNANIMOUS IN IL.
. ACTIVISTS RALLY FOR TRANSEXUAL PRISONER
. TURKISH TRANS-RIGHTS ACTIVIST ASSAULTED,
RE-ARRESTED AFTER RECEIVING US AWARD
. NEW GROUP ON CAPITOL HILL
MEN CONVICTED IN GAY/TRANS-MURDER
===================================
(Fayetteville, AR: 12 Jul 97) TWO MEN HAVE
BEEN CONVICTED for murdering Alan Walker and
sentenced to life in prison.
Walker, dressed as a woman, picked up
Yitzak Marta and Adam Blackford outside a gay
nightclub last November and took them home
with him. The men beat and strangled Walker
to death after Walker revealed to them that
he was a man.
Judge William Storey declared, "This is
nothing more than a hate crime. This person
was killed because he was gay."
The Associated Press reports that
Walker's body was discovered three days after
the murder when neighbors became suspicious
because of his absence and slashed tires on
his vehicle. "KKK" in large letters was
scrawled in blood on a closet door of the
black man's home.
###
MEMBER OF NYC SM COMMUNITY FOUND MURDERED
=========================================
(New York, NY: 25 July 97) NADIA FREY, who
also worked as a dominant under the name of
"Mistress Hilda," was found murdered in her
New York City apartment over the weekend.
As in other trans and gay murders, the
police and media immediately began speculating
that her lifestyle was the cause. Both TV
and print media lead with gaudy stories which
effectively blame her for her own murder, and
highlighted alternative sexual practice as
"deviant" and "bizarre." The Daily News headlined
its coverage "Whipper Gets Whacked" while
the New York Post's lead began, "Her business
was violence."
In response, the National Coalition for
Sexual Freedom immediately sent letters to
each of the media outlets, complaining about
their biased coverage.
Said Executive Director Susan Wright,
"Your coverage of the murder of Nadia Frey
was both trivializing and derogatory toward
those involved in alternative sexual
practice. By blaming the victim and holding
her up as an object of mockery, you make
likely that such murders will happen again
[and] less likely that police and courts will
vigorously prosecute these types of
crimes. Your coverage of alternative
sexuality [contributes] to the perception
that we are disposable people."
FLORIDA CONGRESS MEMBER: TRANSPEOPLE IMMORAL
=============================================
(Ocala, FL: 26 July 97) CLIFF STEARNS (R-FL)
IS ASKING state officials to set dress
standards for government work places after a
transexual woman, Sabrina Robb, began
transitioning on the job.
Formerly Dale Robb, Sabrina began wearing
dresses to work after gradually feminizing
her appearance in her workplace over several
months. Some employees in Ms. Robb's office
complained that her attire distracted and
offended them.
Said Rep. Stearns, "It sends the wrong
signals to our children and people in this
county... I think the public would have a
high level of discomfort with his work
activities... It's antithetical to our morals
in Ocala."
The following day, representatives from
GenderPAC, the National Coalition for Sexual
Freedom, and TOPS called on Rep. Stearns'
office yesterday, spending an hour discussing
the case and explaining that Sabrina is
following a medically prescribed program of
cross-living preparatory to surgery.
They also highlighted GenderPAC's recent
national survey on violence against
transpeople--which found that 60% of
respondents had been assaulted because of
being transgendered--pointing out that
stigmatizing Ms. Robb as a moral deviant
dramatically increases the likelihood of her
being the subject of some kind of assault.
Robb's supervisor, Dotti Pohleven, said
Robb's change of dress has not affected her
work. "He's [sic] an excellent employee and a
great asset... He's very dependable. He's
thorough."
###
TRANS-RIGHTS PROTECTION UNANIMOUS IN IL
======================================
(Evanston, IL: 29 July 97) LAST NIGHT THE
Evanston City Council became the first city
in Illinois to extend human rights protection
to transgendered residents.
The Council voted unanimously in favor
of Ordinance 61-O-97, which adds
transgendered individuals as a protected
class to their Human Rights Ordinance.
The vote was the result of extensive
lobbying by representatives of It's Time,
Illinois! (ITI), a transgendered political
advocacy organization. The effort was
spearheaded by Miranda Stevens, vice-chair of
ITI, and began with a series of meetings with
Paula Haynes, Director of the Human Relations
Commission.
ITI's strategy was the same used to pass
trans-protection in Minnesota state, which
re-defines "sexual orientation" to include
both affectional relationships and gender
identity. That strategy was eventually
unanimously adopted by the Commission, and
then introduced into the Evanston City
Council.
At the July 28 meeting, Ms. Stevens
spoke in support of the measure, explaining,
"For most of you, this is the first time
you've encountered a transgendered person,
outside of stereotypical caricatures on
television or movies. We hope that by the
end of the evening, we would have put a more
human face on our community."
###
ACTIVISTS RALLY FOR TRANS-PRISONER
=================================
(Walla Walla, WA: 14 July 97) LOCAL
TRANSGENDER ACTIVISTS GATHERED at the County
Superior Courthouse here to protest alleged
abuse of transgender prisoners in the
Washington state prison system. The case
that sparked the protest was the sexual
assault of transexual woman Crystal Schwenk
by a corrections officer. Protesters
expressed outrage that the guard who
committed the alleged assault of Ms. Schwenk
has not been disciplined.
Protesters also highlighted accusations
of medical neglect, a common form of abuse.
Diana Courvant of It's Time, Oregon! stated,
"Prison officials will often discontinue a
transexual's hormone treatment, even though
it has been prescribed by a doctor and even
though it can be life-threatening to
discontinue it." Public response to the
protesters was largely positive.
###
TURKISH TRANS-RIGHTS ACTIVIST ASSAULTED,
RE-ARRESTED AFTER RECEIVING US AWARD
========================================
(Istanbul, Turkey: 22 July 97) DEMET DEMIR,
THE TURKISH TRANSEXUAL and human rights
advocate, returned home to Turkey from
the U.S. after receiving an award from
the International Gay & Lesbian
Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) for her
human rights work, was re-arrested within
hours when she intervened to stop a police
from beating a young girl.
The girl was selling handkerchiefs made
in a workshop designed to help transgender
people earn their livelihoods outside of
prostitution, into which many Turkish
transexual are driven.
"When I tried to save the girl from
them," said Ms. Demir, "they started to hit
me and I was bruised on several parts of my
body." She was taken to the police station
and charged with insulting the police.
Ms. Demir has endured more than fifteen
years of harassment, violence, and time in
prison because of her activism to gain basic
rights for gay, lesbian, and transgender
people.
Despite the obstacles she faces, Ms. Demir
stated, "I will keep on struggling for every
right. Yesterday I started as a child and I
am going on as a mother today. And tomorrow I
will go on as a grandmother. I do not care if
they kill me or put me in prison again."
###
NEW GROUP ON CAPITOL HILL
=========================
[Washington, DC : 24 July 97] REPRESENTATIVES
OF the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom
(NCSF) made the rounds of Capitol Hill today
and met informally with a number of
congressional office and progressive
organizations, taking the first steps towards
building a national consensus that violence
and discrimination against those involved
in alternative sexual or affectional practice
must stop. The mission of the newly-formed NCSF
is to combat violence and discrimination due to
"sexual orientation, identity, or desire."
Declared NCSF founder Susan Wright,
"People involved in alternative practice
have been stigmatized for too long. The
bottom line is, we are people who lose our
jobs, our children, and sometimes our lives
because of sexual or affectional preference.
All we are seeking is equal rights."
To document bias-related crimes,
NCSF has announced a series of community-
based research projects, beginning with a
"National Survey on Sexual & Affectional
Violence" this fall.
###
Online Editor: Clare Howell,
clareq@gpac.org
Subscriptions. Please send:
Subscribe iyf-online OR
Unsubscribe iyf-online TO
MajorDomo@Apocalypse.Org
For prior press releases,
check the GenderPAC web site
at: http://WWW.Gpac.Org
(c) 1996 InYourFace
An on-line, news-only service for
gender activism. When re-posting,
please credit InYourFace.